Next Year at SERS

For the coming year, I thought about what I'd like to change about SERS. Here's the list of things I want to change :

Nothing.

Nope, the time is fine, the place is lovely, the cost suits everyone, and the level of structure is delightfully loose.

So I've paid the rent and rebooked us for the coming year. All the new dates are listed here.

Here's to another great year of making stuff and having fun.

November 2009 Meeting - the non-food events

Terrific, enjoyable SERS this month.

Cathy's creative juices have been flowing, and she's been etching metal - oh wow! She showed off some of her etched items - they are wonderful to see in real life. We urged her to set up a workshop. Now that would be fun!












This was one she thought was a bit of a dud. Nice though. Her African stamps look so good etched.



















How's this one? A crackle stamp, etched. Looks amazing! This is the crackle from My Stamps.














And how about this one? This stamp came from Thread Studio over in WA (I've been there, it's amazing!).

So seeing some metal etchings was a highlight.

Now look back at the photo of Cathy. She sure is making a spectacle of herself! Look closer, and you'll see what I mean!









Anne tucked into a slice of cake... and also made lovely Christmas cards.















Jenny and Helen working with the little stamp pads - what a good way to get a big range of colours!











Chris and Sharon worked on perfecting the art of fusing a stamped tissue paper image onto a candle. Very successful!


















And Margaret, Pat, Margaret and Nan made gorgeous things as usual!


I was playing with punches (again), but this time with bright colours. They really cheer you up!

November 2009 Meeting - my birthday!

Well, it's a sneaky way to get a birthday party, but I brought along a cake, stuck a candle in it, and announced that nobody was getting any until I'd blown out the candle. So of course, all the lovely SERS ladies sang me a beautiful song (no, not the one comparing me to a monkey, either).

Here's a picture of the cake; and the cake cut; and my slice. It was an amazing Tunnel of Fudge cake (moist and fudgy in the middle). Just amazing. I can't take any credit for it - I made it, but to an exacting recipe from a wonderful scientific cookbook Jeff and I just bought. This is the book - you may be able to get it locally - we found it at Angus & Roberston. Great Chrissie present. And this is the recipe.

So, I think that's enough about the cake. Next post will be about stamping.

Looking forward to my Birthday Meeting

Stamp club is on again this weekend - we are meeting on 28 November. That's (around) my birthday, so being the person-who-makes-the-bookings, I'll declare this to be my Birthday Meeting. If Lizzie comes, it's hers too, because her birthday is exactly as far from the meeting as mine is.

What shall we do? I want to paint and punch stuff. I have a punch project in mind. Wait a minute, I might need bright coloured card for that. Better check my supplies. 'Cos I did all pastel last month. Gotta be varied, hey?

Here's a picture I took at Paperific this month. Pretty...

So come along to SERS if you can!

Looking forward to our Christmas party

The mostly annual SERS Christmas party is on again (yes, we have a November meeting before that). It's at Cathy's place - contact me privately if you need to know where that is - on December 12 at 1pm. Bring a plate. That's a plate with food. To share. We always make stuff, but spend more than usual time on eating and making merry.

A Hallowe'en meeting!

We had a super meeting on a hot, sticky Melbourne day. With the fan on, the community house rooms were quite pleasant and cool, so we stamped on in spite of the heat (I know, it's gonna get way hotter, but we're just getting used to it for the season).

Chris and Sharon worked out their work Christmas card - their annual commission. Any method goes, as long as it's quick and looks great. They had success!

Ann was working on her Christmas cards, using mocked up bits done by colour photocopying. That's clever! I gave her a Kimmie (that's the latest craze in swapping, didn't you know?).

Maria had bought a lip gloss just for the packaging, and she and Margaret were reverse engineering it. Nice!











Other Maria made a cool pram card - she wasn't happy with it yet, but we were most impressed.

Pat was Iris folding - I'd never seen it done before - interesting! Cathy was squeaking. Lizzie was borrowing stuff. Nan likes oval punches now. Other Margaret was making embossed Christmas cards. And I was using pastel colors exclusively, making a project that's aimed at a magazine - so we'll see if I have success.

And we were sponsored by (or rather, I'd recently scored a free sample from, and was asked to provide feedback about) Pitos, a yummy savoury crunchy snack, just right for stamping with. You can see the packet behind Lizzie. The girls emptied the plate of Pitos, in spite of the fact that a place of other tasty crackers was right next to it. So they were popular! The club is available for sponsorship of this kind any time.

September 2009 SERS meeting

Argh, forgot to take photos, again! Some on-the-spot journalist I would make.

Anyway, it was a great success - we met in the "cosy room", the carpeted room that is a little smaller than our usual one. That was because our patchworking friends were having a weekend long sewing binge. Good for them!

I was lucky enough to bring my kids - they are not little any more, so it didn't seem too hard to manage. They had card games, they had Nintendos, and there are always rooms free. Well, there are USUALLY rooms free, but this time they scored a little corner of our room. Blustery and cold outside too, which added to the, umm, atmosphere.





Jenny smuggled in a radio and called out footy scores. Pat brought excellent shortbread that was snapped up in short order. Chris made cards with birds. I used my Golden paints on some truly cute stamps, making them turn out cool and arty. I thought, anyway.

Anyway, here's a recipe for shortbread, and a photo so the page doesn't look bare.